demagogue

(sometimes US), demagog

1. a political agitator who appeals with crude oratory to the prejudice and passions of the mob

2. (esp in the ancient world) any popular political leader or orator

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Demagogue

in ancient Greece, particularly in Athens of classical times, a term initially used for politicians of a democratic leaning (Themistocles and Pericles, for example). Gradually the term began to acquire a pejorative connotation among opponents of democracy. It came to refer to activists who sought to earn popularity through false promises, flattery at popular assemblies, and the like. The term has been preserved with this meaning in modern political terminology.

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References in periodicals archive

The antidote to a fascist or a demagogue arising cannot be symptomatic.

'Our Fundamental Freedoms'

Trump is among many demagogues who promise to restore a state of primal wholeness, defining this unity of the people against the insidiously divided loyalties of transnational elites.

Why you should thank Trump

Years have passed, but I remain very skeptical of religious demagogues in our time who use a mixture of religious and political rhetoric to justify their claims for financial or political advancement.

An evangelical's lament: scarred by a history of racism, conservative churches now find themselves entangled in a web of right-wing politics

* Ahmadinejad is described as a hard-Line demagogue, yet students seem not to fear attacking him, even storming his car after his recent university speech.

Iran's students speak out: students played a key role in the 1979 revolution. Until recently, they had been largely silenced under Ahmadinejad's regime

His goal is power, the legacy of a life spent as a soldier and a political demagogue. This is not to suggest that Chavez and his collaborators are not sacking the Venezuelan treasury: sources in-country confirm that self-enrichment remains a great tradition.

Rising anti-U.S. populism: the Hugo Chavez act is starting to wear thin, but does the U.S. State Department have an effective game plan to take advantage of his predicament?

Whatever was this dangerous demagogue alluding to, they myopically wondered?

Did Canada vote against both Liberals and the Supreme Court of Canada?

For the five years in the early 1950s he conducted a very public witch-hunt for communists infiltrating the US government, Senator Joseph McCarthy "may have been the most destructive demagogue in American history," notes Wicker (a former national political correspondent for The New York Times).

Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Joseph McCarthy

The plot concerns a cunning demagogue who plans to thwart the return of devolved government as a prelude to converting the world to Free Presbyterianism.

John McBlain's column: Bond to meet our own Dr No; The Sunday Mirror columnist who tells us what's really happening in Norn Iron; IAN PHLEGMING ROLE

Regarding your piece "Requiem for an Iconoclast" [The World, June 11] about the murder of openly gay Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn: It seems to me that the word demagogue would be more fitting.

The Dutch Falwell? (reader forum)

I stopped buying it some time ago as I felt it had become irresponsible by giving a national platform to an opportunist and a demagogue Tommy Sheridan

All of the time ...; Dear Sir

Some listen and report because they like what the demagogue says, because in their intense partisanship they welcome the aid of any man who will discredit their "foes." But these are in the minority, and most members of the press soon feel distaste for the demagogue and are intensely dubious of his motives.

The Cult of Incredibility

Lasting peace can only be achieved in Kosovo and the Balkans once "Europe's worst demagogue" Slobodan Milosevic has been removed from power, President Clinton said.

Balkans Conflict: Milosevic has to go says Clinton